The Joys of Being an Inscrutable Voter

By: Johnny LongtorsoPublished On: 10/10/2008 4:47:07 PM

I moved to Virginia at the beginning of 2006 and registered to vote here in the summer. I have since voted in the 2006 and 2007 general elections, but I haven't voted in any primaries. I guess this means that in the eyes of the state parties, I'm one of those "independent" voters, because I'm receiving all the lovely mailings from both the DPV and RPV.

Today I received my third (yes, third) absentee ballot application from the Republicans which makes the standard "Democrats will raise your taxes!!!!" crap as well as the laughable claims that Republicans will "reform the outdated and ineffective process of financial oversight in Washington" and "bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street".

Now, all these absentee ballots have me wondering about two things: first, considering how much the Republicans obsess over voter fraud, isn't it a little odd that they're encouraging people to vote absentee even though technically Virginia law requires you to swear that you meet one of the criteria for voting absentee? Are they saying "la la la, we're just providing an application, it's up to the voter to use it in the legal way"?

My second thought is, why don't the Democrats do this? Absentee ballots are one of the big advantages that the Republicans seem to have over Democrats, and I don't understand why we just let them have that advantage without doing the same.

Oh well, when I finally pull the trigger and vote in the primary I will probably lose the enjoyment of poring over their ridiculous mailers and chuckling at them. But for now, I look forward to my next absentee ballot application courtesy of the RPV. (Of course, you still have to provide your own stamp.)